Lex Fridman Podcast

#193 – Rob Reid: The Existential Threat of Engineered Viruses and Lab Leaks

Jun 21, 2021

03:05:11

Creator website

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Pandemic Risks

05:24

What It Takes to Build a Successful Startup?

04:45

Is AGI Super Intelligent or Just Mediocre Intelligent AI Systems Outliving Humans?

03:07

Introduction

4min

Fund Rise Review - Is Fund Rise a Good Investment Platform?

3min

The Most Entertaining Outcome Is the Most Probably

4min

Are We Really Designed for Maximum Entertainment?

3min

Do Flowers Have Bees or Flowers Have Flowers?

3min

How to Write the Best Work of Your Life?

4min

How Much Time Do You Spend Editing?

2min

Synthetic Biology - The Most Probably Route to Self Destroyment

3min

Pandemic Risks

5min

10.

Gain of Function Research

2min

11.

H5N1 Viruses

5min

12.

The Right Path Forward on Gain-of-Function?

5min

13.

COVID Leaked From a Lab?

4min

14.

Why Is It So Dangerous That I Leak From a Lab?

3min

15.

Is There a Future Pandemic?

3min

16.

Sentinel Vaccines

3min

17.

Detecting Pathogens Using Multiple Data Sources

1min

18.

Trust in Science and Engineering and the Leak From the Lab

6min

19.

What Makes a Great Leader?

5min

20.

Protein Folding Is an Unbelievably Important Thing

2min

21.

Are the Ultra-Competent Also the Good?

5min

22.

Vaccines

4min

23.

How Long Does a Civilization Continue to Last?

2min

24.

Fermi's Paradox - Is There a Predator-Prey Formula?

2min

25.

Is There a Way to Protect Human Consciousness?

5min

26.

Space Colonization - NASA Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos?

3min

27.

Is AGI Super Intelligent or Just Mediocre Intelligent AI Systems Outliving Humans?

3min

28.

I Hate Aways, but What if the Terminators Have Consciousness?

4min

29.

Is Consciousness Required to Become Super Intelligent?

2min

30.

Is Artificial Consciousness Possible?

4min

31.

How Do You Integrate Meditation Into Your Life?

2min

32.

Meditation

3min

33.

Is There a Difference Between Brown Noise and White Noise?

3min

34.

Fasting and the Diet

2min

35.

Is This Your First 72 Hour Fast?

3min

36.

The Greatest Song of All Time

4min

37.

The Covers Are Not Dripping With Emotion

2min

38.

What Are the Big Takeaways From a Digital Music Industry?

3min

39.

Napster and Music Sales Start to Get Gutted

6min

40.

Is This Just the Way of Companies?

4min

41.

What It Takes to Build a Successful Startup?

5min

42.

Are You a Loan Founder or a Technical Co-Founder?

5min

43.

Is There Something Outside of the Founder?

3min

44.

Podcasts - What Do You Think Makes for a Great Conversation?

3min

45.

Podcasting - Is There a Little More Magic in Podcasting?

4min

46.

Podcasting in the Place of Walled Gardens

5min

47.

Podcasts and the Wall Gardens of the Creatives

3min

48.

Spotify Is a Good Idea, but I'm Sceptical but Hopeful

2min

49.

Is There Advice You Would Give to a Young Person Today About Life?

2min

50.

Python Development - Is There a Cobalt Expert?

2min

51.

How I Got My B and MBA From Harvard Business School

3min

52.

Crop Insurance for Small Holding Farmers

2min

53.

The End of the World

2min

54.

You Might Disappear With Success?

3min

55.

The Meaning of Life

3min

56.

The Sweetest Part of Love Is the Loss of It

2min

Rob Reid is an author and podcaster. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lex and use code LEX to get 1 month of fish oil
– Belcampo: https://belcampo.com/lex and use code LEX to get 20% off first order
– Fundrise: https://fundrise.com/lex
– NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour

EPISODE LINKS:
Rob’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/rob_reid
After On Podcast: https://after-on.com/

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SUPPORT & CONNECT:
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– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(08:33) – The most entertaining outcome is the most likely
(14:52) – Meme theory
(18:12) – Writing process
(24:59) – Engineered viruses as a threat to human civilization
(32:45) – Gain-of-function research on viruses
(44:54) – Did COVID leak from a lab?
(52:15) – Virus detection
(1:00:04) – Failure of institutions
(1:07:48) – Using AI to engineer viruses
(1:12:07) – Evil and competence
(1:21:26) – Where are the aliens?
(1:25:19) – Backing up human consciousness by colonizing space
(1:34:48) – Superintelligence and consciousness
(1:46:12) – Meditation
(1:54:20) – Fasting
(2:00:20) – Greatest song of all time
(2:05:46) – Early days of music streaming
(2:17:39) – Startup advice
(2:30:50) – Podcasting
(2:46:12) – Advice for young people
(2:55:15) – Mortality
(3:00:41) – Meaning of life